The Midwest Cyber Center of Excellence to Host a Youth Cyber Competition
The Midwest Cyber Center of Excellence (MWCCOE) is hosting a HackSpace Competition for high school and middle school students Saturday, Sept. 10 at Maryville University and Saturday, Sept. 17 atย Southwestern Illinois College.
The event, which is free for all students, was created to give students firsthand exposure to cybersecurity and motivate them to pursue a career in the growing cyber field.
Teams of four will compete to test and expand both their cybersecurity skills and CyberPatriot awareness through cybersecurity-related puzzles dealing with network exploitation, cyber forensics, cryptography and cyber trivia. Both events will run from 9-12pm with awards immediately following.
โ”Our nation faces tens of thousands of daily cyber-attacks from countries like China and Russia, and I have seen firsthand how those threats are found and eliminated due to the experienced cyber personnel at Scott Air Force Base,” says U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill).
“The tools and training provided by groups like CyberPatriot gives interested youth of Illinois the experience and awareness that not only can lead to a high-paying job but also work every day to protect our nation.”
The Air Force Association (AFA) established CyberPatriot in 2009 to inspire students toward careers in cybersecurity and STEM.ย Midwest Cyber Center of Excellence (MWCCOE) was founded in 2015 after regional leaders identified a lack of qualified workforce to meet the growing demand for cybersecurity professionals.